


This My Blood, This My Bone

by aban_ataashi



Series: Winter Winds (Miervaldis's Story) [1]
Category: Pillars of Eternity
Genre: Gen, fun times with Berath, weird Watcher stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-29
Updated: 2019-05-29
Packaged: 2020-03-27 13:37:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19014001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aban_ataashi/pseuds/aban_ataashi
Summary: And I will serve Berath for as long as they wish. Until my death- and after, as it turns out.A look at the Watcher as the Herald of Berath, as told by three people who knew him before and one who didn't.





	This My Blood, This My Bone

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! This is a fill for the prompt: Summoned, and the first thing I've finished for my Watcher Miervaldis, a priest of Berath. Enjoy!

The Watcher didn’t look as dead as he should.

There was a sick kind of humor in that, Eder thought. As he watched over Miervaldis’s body, Eder couldn’t help but be reminded of the cold morning in Gilded Vale when he’d first caught sight of the elf. He’d been a strange sight, all right, and honestly it was no wonder the other villagers didn’t trust him. He looked every bit the type of strange, unnatural foreigner that the duc had warned of.

He’d stood in the middle of the village, underneath the hanging tree. A man pale as snow, long silver hair half-hiding the vacant expression in his eyes as he stood, wreathed in mist, looking up at the swinging bodies. For a fleeting instant, even Eder had thought he was looking at a ghost.

But it was just Miervaldis. A strange guy, to be sure, but despite the whole ‘communing-with-the-dead’ thing, he was just as much a living kith as Eder himself. Or at least, he had been.

Now, Eder wasn’t so sure. After what happened at Caed Nua, Miervaldis should be well and truly dead. But for reasons Eder didn’t understand, his body was still intact, still breathing. At a simple glance, he could be sleeping. Only problem was that he wouldn’t _wake up._ The healers had tried everything, and now the only shot was to chase after Eothas and hope that proximity would trigger some sort of reaction in the Watcher’s soul. Eder didn’t know if it would work. At this point, there was nothing to do but try.

He kept watch over his friend. It was uneventful work up until the day Eder’s drifting thoughts were interrupted by a sudden gasp from the sleeping body. Miervaldis lurched forward, eyes wide open for the first time in days.

“You’re awake!” Eder exclaimed, shock and relief overtaking him for a moment. Miervaldis didn’t answer immediately. His hands went to his neck, then moved along his chest, searching for something. He moved to get out of the cot, but his legs were shaky and Eder had to reach out and steady him. “Easy there, Mierv, you’ve had a rough time of it. Eothas-”

“I know.” Miervaldis waved him away and staggered to the wardrobe at the foot of the cot. Eder had guessed what he was looking for, and wasn’t surprised when Miervaldis pulled his Berathian amulet from the drawers and held it tightly in his hands. The Watcher’s balance was still unsure as the boat rocked underfoot, but he relaxed slightly as he ran his fingers over the familiar token.

“How do you know?” Eder asked, although even as he posed the question he knew the answer was something to do with his Watcher state. Miervaldis didn’t immediately answer, and Eder forced a chuckle. “You been faking on us?”

Miervaldis didn’t respond to the joke, which was normal enough. What was strange was the way his eyes were still fixed on his amulet, and when he finally spoke his voice was a fervent whisper. “They told me. Eder, I saw them- this wasn’t just a vision, or like in Twin Elms, I was _with_ them!”

Eder frowned. “With who?”

At last Miervaldis looked up from his amulet to smile at Eder, pale blue eyes now burning with conviction, and Eder realized who he meant the second before he whispered the answer.

“ _Berath_.”

 

* * *

 

 

Aloth was still trying to decide whether he believed the new title Miervaldis had bestowed upon himself- although, to be fair, the Watcher claimed that it was not from him that the title came, but from his god.

The Herald of Berath. Was it any more fantastical than anything else that had happened to the Watcher? He had, after all, communed with the gods once already, something Aloth had witnessed firsthand. And then there was the fact that according to Eder, Miervaldis should by all rights be dead.

But a lot of things had happened that ‘should’ have killed Miervaldis. Why should this instance be divine? And as for the visions he claimed… well, Miervaldis had been claiming visions from Berath long before Caed Nua was destroyed, before he’d even become a Watcher.

So when it came to a matter of whether he had literally spoken with his god or whether this was another of his mystical notions…Aloth still couldn’t quite say. What he did know was that Miervaldis was capable and dedicated. He could only hope such qualities were enough to stop Eothas.

“What is our plan?” Aloth asked, approaching Miervaldis where he stood on the deck of the ship. Miervaldis leaned against the railing, gaze distant. His long white hair was tied into braids that stirred slightly in response to the ocean breeze.

“We go to Neketaka,” Miervaldis answered, not shifting his gaze away from the horizon. “Seek an audience with the queen so we can warn her of Eothas. Follow Eothas to the next adra pillar.”

“Right,” Aloth sighed. “Simple. How do we plan to gain an audience with the queen?” It was not the largest hole in the plan, but it was the most immediate. _One problem at a time,_ Aloth thought to himself. He’d found that was the only way to deal with problems of ‘Watcher’ nature.

“If she is wise, she will heed our tidings and invite us in. If not,” Miervaldis shrugged. “We go in anyway.”

Aloth couldn’t exactly argue with that plan. He knew it would be pointless anyway; he had rarely seen Miervaldis be successfully persuaded from a course of action he’d already decided upon.

The dock workers at Neketaka did not know this. When _The Windchime_ made port, Miervladis and his group disembarked only to be immediately blocked by a stubborn-looking amaua woman. Aloth watched the ensuing battle of wills between her and Miervaldis play out before him with equal parts amusement and trepidation.

What should have happened after the initial rebuttal was for Miervaldis to calmly and methodically chip away at the woman’s hostility. The man could be diplomatic when he wanted, strange though it seemed. But the debate and negotiations never came. Instead, after conversing with the woman for scarcely a minute, Miervaldis lifted his head up as if hearing someone call his name and muttered something too quiet for Aloth to hear.

And then a flash lit the docks, and the Watcher was surrounded by a vortex of swirling energy. Dock workers and crew alike leapt back in alarm, but Miervaldis didn’t move. He stared straight ahead, bathed in the dark purple light of whatever power possessed him.

Of all the acts Aloth had seen Miervaldis perform… there had been nothing like this. The wizard shuffled backwards almost against his own, anxious not to get caught within the range of the strange spiritual energy.

Then Miervaldis lifted his arms, and in another flash of light ghostly apparitions appeared one by one in a circle around him. _Gods,_ Aloth thought as more spirits joined the circle. _Is this what he sees all the time?_

The spirits moved, hazily but undeniably there, toward the dock workers, who finally broke ranks and ran in terror. As soon as they were gone, the light began to fade, and the spirits with it, until it was only Miervaldis once more.

He blinked rapidly, the strange glow disappearing from his eyes, and then fell forward with a ragged breath. Eder rushed to catch him, Aloth close behind, and together they helped the Watcher back to his feet.

“That’s new,” Miervaldis said wryly once he’d regained his breath. Aloth couldn’t think of a response. His heart was still racing from the spectacle he’d witnessed.

One thing was for sure- he no longer doubted Miervaldis’s title as Herald of Berath.

 

* * *

 

 

Pallegina had never thought she would be traveling with the Watcher again. She’d also never thought Eothas would rise in the form of a giant adra statue, so her predictions of the future obviously didn’t count for much.

For his part, Miervaldis didn’t seem surprised to see her. He rarely seemed surprised by much at all. His odd mannerisms were nothing new or alarming for Pallegina. She had already heard the whispers amongst the crew, that their strange captain had been altered by his connection with the gods, but Pallegina knew better.

Miervaldis had always been odd, from the moment she’d met him in Defiance Bay. The religious ones always were. Miervaldis, Durance, Xoti… in Pallegina’s mind, it just went to show what devotion to the gods led to.

She wasn’t exactly impressed with his new claims. His new Herald title, his little show at the docks, the new powers he’d claimed were granted by Berath- it was all typical, fanatical Miervaldis, right down to the claim that he’d actually been brought back from the dead by his patron. It was enough to make Pallegina consider asking the ducs for a reassignment.

It had been different, back in the Dyrwood. Back then she and Miervaldis had at least been united in the desire to end the Hollowborn plague. Pallegina could ignore his devotion to the useless gods and get along with him well enough when they were both focused on other things.

But now? Now the gods were the only thing on Miervaldis’s mind. He’d been given a _holy mission,_ and Pallegina was being dragged along with him.

 

* * *

 

 

Pallegina seemed to know what was going on, but Xoti certainly didn’t. One minute, they’d been on their way to Vailian Embassy. The next, her new Watcher friend was blank-faced and immobile.

“Uh… is he alright?” she asked, poking him softly in the side.

Pallegina nodded, arms crossed and fingers tapping impatiently. At long last, Miervaldis returned to the present moment with a jolt.

“Still speaking with spirits, I see,” Pallegina observed. _Oh._ Xoti had seen Miervaldis communicate with spirits before, but… there weren’t any spirits here. At least, none that her lantern could sense.

“Gods, this time,” Miervaldis answered, voice distant with distraction. Xoti’s eyes went wide at the statement- _gods?-_ but Pallegina only huffed in annoyance.

“You should tell them to leave well enough alone. We have enough to do without dealing with their interference.”

“Pallegina!” Xoti interjected. “You shouldn’t say such things!”

“Its fine, Xoti,” Miervaldis said calmly, with the barest hint of a smile. “The gods are well aware of her feelings. For now, they choose to focus their ire on me.”

“ _You?”_ Pallegina sounded surprised. “You follow their every command. Why would the gods be unhappy with you?”

“I follow _Berath’s_ commands,” Miervaldis corrected. “And their commands are to uphold order and balance. To maintain the natural cycle of the world. Some of the others want the opposite. Wael, Magran, Woedica… they do not like where my allegiance lies.” As he spoke, he fingered the amulet around his neck, the one upon which Berath’s doorway was engraved.

Xoti knew the Watcher shared a bond with Berath. She hadn’t known until now just how strong it was. She wanted to ask about it, but Pallegina spoke first.

“I do not understand why you continue to follow Berath at all. The gods will only ever know how to take. Even yours. You give them everything, and they repay you only with greater hardships.”

“I serve Berath for the same reason you continue to serve your Brotherhood, I suspect,” Miervaldis answered, with the tone of someone who’d had the same argument many times. “I believe in them.”

Pallegina scowled. She obviously didn’t care for the comparison. “The Brotherhood gave me a home. A life. Your god gives only death. You would serve them until death comes for you, as well?”

“Without death, there can’t be life,” Xoti interjected. “Like night and day. Sowing and reaping. One has to follow the other.” Pallegina glared at her, but Xoti just glared right back. She’d had plenty of people think she was wrong; one more didn’t hurt anything.

Miervaldis, however, nodded as if Xoti were speaking perfect sense. “Berath serves that balance. And I will serve Berath for as long as they wish. Until my death- and after, as it turns out.”

Pallegina narrowed her eyes but said no more, only stalking ahead down the road. Miervaldis watched her go, something like regret in his eyes. “She thinks I’m crazy. She’s always thought that, at least partially. Now she really believes it.”

Xoti didn’t know what to say to that. Truthfully, the Watcher intimidate her a bit- he was hard to read, hard to talk to. But now, he seemed like he could use some cheering up.

“Hey, being crazy ain’t so bad,” she said. “Trust me on that. It’s worth it if you’re following your calling, isn’t it?”

Miervaldis smiled- just a little, but the guy was so darn serious to begin with that Xoti counted it as a win. “Yes, yes it is.” He fingers closed around his amulet again, and when he spoke again his voice was certain. “And I’ll keep following it.”


End file.
